September is here! Pumpkin Spice Latte time! We have tried to enjoy the last few days of summer and have done a little more exploring. Grandma and Grandpa Hanson left last week and that was tough! They had been here for two weeks and it was getting pretty normal to have them here helping us out. A few days before they left, Uncle Andy surprised us with a visit for Grandpa's birthday! He flew in late on a Sunday night the night before Grandpa's birthday. We spent Monday exploring around West Hartford and went to dinner at one of our favorite places, Max Burger. It was fun having my family here to celebrate his birthday. The kids also really loved having Andy here. The day before school started we headed out with grandpa and grandma for one more adventure. We went to New London to Ocean Beach. It was pretty chilly, but they have a tiny amusement park, beach, swimming pool, waterslides, and a park. The kids really liked it and we will plan another trip when it is warmer. Because it was cold we didn't stay too long and headed to an outlet mall at Foxwoods Casino. It was a fun day and I was able to get some back to school shopping done.
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| Birthday Dinner |
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| Ocean Beach |
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| Ocean Beach |
The next day, Wednesday, Charlie started school! Back to school time is always so bittersweet. I am excited, nervous, and happy for my kids, but a little sad and terrified myself. Charlie made his big Bugbee debut last Wednesday and man that kid makes me proud. He had a great first day of school and came home with lots to tell me and loved his new teacher and even talked about a few kids in his class. We have been spending the afternoons after school gets out on the play ground at Bugbee playing with new friends. This has been one of the perks of being a "walker" this year. It has been an adjustment making sure we are at school at the right time to drop off and pick up Charlie. The bus was pretty convenient, but so far we have liked being there to greet him at the school door. Tomorrow it's supposed to rain, so my opinion on this will likely change. Especially in January! Today Charlie came home and had his first birthday invitation from a Connecticut friend. That was pretty special for him! Thursday grandpa, grandma, and Andy left to head back to MN. It was sad to see them go! They won't be back for awhile, so it feels weird not to have visitors lined up for awhile. Friday last week was my first day doing school and preschool drop off by myself since my parents had been helping the first few days of school. We all survived and I even got a little one on one time with my favorite girl. It was nice to have a short first week and head into labor day weekend with a few days of school under our belt.
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| First Day of First Grade |
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| First Day! |
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| Girl Time at the library |
By Friday we were so excited to get the boys back and to spend some quality time together after a busy, emotional week! On Saturday we went for a hike at one of the reservoirs in West Hartford. It's a beautiful area and not far from our house. There are a lot of black bears in and around West Hartford and even in our neighborhood. This reservoir is close to Talcott Mountain so we were nervous about seeing a bear on our walk. Thankfully, we did not see one, but we enjoyed the hike with the kids!
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| West Hartford Reservoir |
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| Reservoir with my buddy |
One of the places on my bucket list to visit this summer was New York City. Charlie has been asking to go there for awhile and it just never worked out to visit when Alan was there for work. So Alan and I decided to surprise the kids with a trip to New York City over Labor Day Weekend (Sunday-Monday). I couldn't make it to Sunday to surprise them so we ended up telling them Saturday morning. That way we were able to decide on a few things that they really wanted to see. We got up early on Sunday morning and hit the road. It took a little over two hours to get to our hotel in Times Square. When we pulled up and had to get three kids, a pack n play, three back packs and a bunch of umbrellas out of the car in the middle of Times Square on a crazy busy street with no parking we definitely questioned our decision to take this little trip and to stay in such a chaotic place! It was quite the site. But, once we got settled it was a great location to be able to walk to most everything we wanted to visit. On our first day we walked through Times Square, visited Bryant Park and took a ride on the carousel in the park, and visited Grand Central Station so we could see where Dad gets dropped off and picked up each week when heads to NYC. We then headed to Rockefeller Center and headed to the Top of the Rock. The boys loved the view way on the top and Alan was able to point out a few of the buildings he was working on. I am a little nervous about heights so this was a little stressful hanging on to three kids. After Rockefeller Center we walked to Central Park and took a carriage ride through the park. It was a little more laid back than the rest of the day so was nice to slow down the pace a bit. Although, I did get pooped on by a pigeon which wasn't a highlight, but the boys thought it was funny and I chalked it up to a NYC experience 😲. After the carriage ride we went back to the hotel to put Kaylee to bed for the night. The boys and Alan went out to explore Times Square in the dark and they were pretty impressed that it was so bright even at night.
